1989 resitivity survey zone B
Date 1989
Event ID 570163
Category Recording
Type Resistivity
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/570163
NS77NW 49.01 723 762
The alignment of the Roman frontier was examined (in December 1988) in advance of landscaping. Beside Nethercroy Road, the stone base was found at a depth of 0.4m, on the line shown on OS maps. Further W, a culvert was found. No complete section was obtained owing to modern disturbance. Beside the Kilsyth Road (B802), attempts to locate the base were unsuccessful. Subsequently, a geophysical survey was undertaken by a team from Bradford Universitty. This suggested an alignment radically different from that shown by the OS; a further excavation is planned.
Sponsor: Strathclyde Regional Council, Dept of Planning.
L Keppie 1989; L J F Keppie et al. 1995.
Five trenches were opened in the field between the Nether Croy and Kilsyth roads. The Wall was badly preserved with no turfwork visible, but the line established by Macdonald in 1931 was confirmed and at one point a culvert was noted; it was 0.2m wide and c.0.15m deep. No traces of a fortlet were seen.
S S Frere 1989.
A length of c.400m of the Antonine frontier was examined prior to possible landscaping, to the E and to the W of the Nethercroy Road. Though the zone E of Nethercroy Road has been badly disfigured by quarrying, coal yards and other industrial activities, the stone base of the Antonine Wall had survived in places, as had the accompanying ditch. At one point the base was found to have a width of 4.2m. The ditch was c9.6m wide. The berm and S faec of the ditch utilised a natural ridge of rock, running E-W. To the W of the Nethercroy Road the remains lie in farmland. The result of the resistivity survey undertaken in 1989 was not confirmed in practice, and the stone base of the Wall (4.2m wide) and the S edge of the ditch were pinpointed on the traditionnal alignment. The stone base of the Wall survived best at the W and E ends of the Field, but was largely ploughed away at the centre. The opportunity was also taken to plot the line of the Military Way. A well-made surface, 3.5m wide was located, accompanied by a drainage gully on its N side. There were no small finds of Roman date.
Sponsors: Strathclyde Regional Council.
L J F Keppie and J J Walker 1990; L J F Keppie et al. 1995.
